### Chapter 370 – Room 205, The Cursed Room – ‘The Absolute Master’ (19)
—
[User: Han Kain (Wisdom)
Date: Day 178
Current Location: Floor 1, Corridor
Sage’s Advice: 3]
– Han Kain
I focused intently on the message the midnight Miro left for another version of myself.
1. If you wait still, an escape option will show up.
2. Save the time until midnight. You’ll need over 30 minutes in Room 207. You’ve already spent nearly 20 minutes.
3. Something about Lee Jaseong.
Item number one was the easiest to understand, and the teacher felt similarly.
“I get that first one. It says to wait since we’ll be escaping soon. Did that really work?”
“Yes.”
“I can guess the danger of Room 205 is the Baehwa, and if we add another—likely the Demon Spirit?”
Ahri nodded her head.
“I heard that the Demon Spirit is surprisingly timid, so after getting thoroughly owned, it probably won’t return for a while.”
“The Baehwa is probably similar.”
“They also heard about ‘Kardamos’s Prophecy’.”
Interpreting the situation from the Baehwa’s perspective:
An unimaginable disaster foretold by the divine had transpired, awakening the Demon Spirit and unleashing a massacre. It didn’t end there; an unidentified force was likely collapsing the city, causing the Demon Spirit to flee.
With that messy situation, would they rashly restart a conquest or enter a capital within their own unknown risks? They must have paused all plans, and it seems that was the moment the escape condition showed up.
Contrarily to how easily I grasped point number one, points two and three had everyone scratching their heads.
Miro tilted her head and stated, “It seems like it’s saying not to recklessly summon the Midnight Miro?”
The implication of number two was that the Midnight Miro should be saved for Room 207. Of the stored one hour, we’d already used almost 20 minutes; it instructed to at least save 30 minutes. So, it meant to not use more than ten minutes before entering Room 207, but it made it feel as if the Midnight Miro had prepared itself for Room 207, which was hard to understand since no one had entered it yet.
None of us knew that location, so how could the past version of Miro leave such a note? Even Eunsol didn’t get it.
“I don’t get it. I heard from Ahri that the past Miro stopped progressing somewhere around the mid-second floor. Right?”
When Ahri nodded, Eunsol continued talking.
“She’s likely progressing slower than us at this point. But how does she know about Room 207?”
As I pondered, a thought struck me, and I spoke up. “It seems she obtained information about the next room through some means. We did the same, right? We got a few keywords before entering Rooms 205 and 206. However… acquiring information about the ‘Gateway Room’ seemed pretty tough.”
“Hmm. Got it. The hotel drops hints in various ways, and we can often glean information about the next rooms. It seems she paid a significant price to get some info about Room 207.”
Yet, there was still a tricky point.
“It’s odd. The information the Midnight Miro obtained about Room 207 should pertain to the ‘Deep Sea Hotel’ related to 207.”
Upon hearing that, the teacher snapped his fingers.
“Ah! That’s right. Even if she got information, it would be about the Deep Sea Hotel, and at that time, it would certainly refer to a different Room 207 from the ‘current hotel’.”
“However, the nuance of the Miro’s message suggests she’s referring to the ‘current hotel’s’ Room 207.”
“Could it be a symptom of memory confusion? The memory of past and present intermingled?”
The teacher’s suggestion was rebutted by the grandfather.
“Cough. Are you seriously underestimating the solid mental state of veteran agents from the Administration Bureau?”
“Hmm…”
At that moment, Ahri cautiously spoke up.
“Maybe….”
“Maybe?”
“The details of Room 207 could be similar even if the hotel changes? Whether it’s the Deep Sea Hotel or the current hotel, the essence of Room 207 could be the same, and if that’s the case, Miro could have discovered that information.”
“…”
Thinking this way was logical, and it was somewhat interesting too. Although, I felt the conversation was starting to blurr the lines between rational deduction and imaginative speculation.
“Looks like figuring it out ourselves is going to be tricky. Shall we switch topics?”
I handed over the subject but realized I didn’t have much to say for the next topic either.
Eunsol chuckled as she read the words.
“‘Ijasung’… Miro.”
“Yes?”
“Are you seriously messing with us?”
“Hey! I’m not!”
Sighing, Eunsol murmured, “If you’re gonna write stuff like this, why even bother? What’s the intention? Beware?”
Jinchul wore a wry smile. “Surprisingly? Is there anyone here who honestly trusts Ijasung?”
While I haven’t met him directly, I could tell by the reactions during meetings.
In this place, there’s not a soul who believes in Ijasung.
After all, why did the first attempt fail?
Because Ijasung took up a blade and slaughtered his comrades.
Even though the room resets and Ijasung loses his memories, the tortured memories of comrades vividly remain in their minds.
The teacher wore a wry smile. “Well, it’s a known fact, but there’s always room to reiterate it once in a while. Let’s keep it to ‘Caution against Ijasung.’”
The next topic was about the Midnight Miro itself.
Miro expressed some nostalgia, almost revering how ‘incredibly wonderful and admirable’ her past self was. After listening for a while, it struck me:
The current Miro didn’t even seem to fully understand her past self.
—
Miro’s memories of her Midnight self were abstract and vague. She vaguely remembered her deeds but could not grasp why she acted that way. She described how she fought, yet had no clue about the principles behind those fights.
Even so, a few facts could be inferred.
She was immensely powerful, had decisive courage, and was definitely not insane. Despite being different from regular people, she had her own logic rooted somewhere.
That logic resembled Ahri’s or the grandfather’s thinking and, moreover, was essentially that of the Administration Bureau’s philosophy.
“Viewing it positively wouldn’t quite cut it.”
It seemed the teacher had complex emotions tied to her past self. He wanted to express some dissatisfaction but thought better of confronting the memory-fogged current Miro.
That’s when Jinchul reacted with interest.
“This is just my personal curiosity, but it seems the Midnight Miro was an incredible powerhouse, right?”
That much is obvious.
“So, getting such power back in the late first floor or early second floor, yet not making much headway, effectively stopping at the mid-second floor, is puzzling, right?”
Eunsol replied, “She said she was sealed, didn’t she?”
“But she wasn’t sealed every time, right? Plus, they mentioned another person who also received a lot of inheritance. Though I doubt they were as strong as Miro. For sure, they’re not from the Administration Bureau.”
The inquiry from Jinchul is straightforward.
Why did an overwhelmingly powerful Miro, who was nearly a force of nature, stop at the mid-second floor along with someone who was almost as strong?
Then, the ‘experienced’ teacher chuckled and said, “Well… It’s been too long, so I barely remember, but I can give you a rough idea. It’s nothing significant; the cursed room isn’t really about individual power.”
In the cursed room, ‘power’ holds less meaning than expected.
“Think about it, Jinchul. If, say, anyone casually entered Room 201 and encountered the ‘Eye of the Zeroth Dimension’, what would happen to the illustrious Midnight Miro?”
“Instant Death?”
“Let’s shift to Room 202. A day? Two days? I can’t remember, but if you don’t find Lee Sooho within that short time frame, he’s summoning a Sea God. What could the Midnight Miro do before the Sea God?”
“Turn into a fish?”
In the cursed room, there are ‘prisoners’. Their strength won’t hold up, even if they consume five or six inheritances.
Therefore, to solve the cursed room, the most crucial factor isn’t power but ‘choices’.
Avoid selecting the wrong choice that leads to the enemy’s scheme, so you don’t end up slain by prisoners in a bad ending.
“Ultimately, to evade such a terrible outcome, sufficient information gathering is essential. And regarding previous comrades….”
“…”
“Theirs was the worst, indeed. Everyone was too busy hiding what they learned.”
Reflecting on past hotels was a negative topic in many ways. It evoked painful memories for both the teacher and Ahri, and it could lead to conflicts concerning Miro.
Eunsol smoothly transitioned the conversation. “Dinner is coming up soon! Let’s talk about how we’ll proceed with our third attempt tomorrow.”
After everyone reviewed the second attempt, we pondered how to improve.
During this process, I realized one thing.
“Hey, sis, we don’t really need to change that much, do we?”
Elena’s statement mirrored everyone’s feelings.
There’s no need to alter how we proceed.
After all, Room 205 is a ‘simple structure’ acknowledged by the hotel.
We’d practically discovered the answer already.
Park Seungyub: The Emperor.
Lee Eunsol: The Harmonious Chancellor, the real power of the Empire.
Kim Sanghyun: The Emperor’s guard and a disciple of the Celestial Society’s leader.
Cha Jinchul: The Grand General.
Elena: The traitor of the Baehwa, the First Apostle with ties to the West.
Thus, if we consider these five as the ‘Imperial Party’.
During the second attempt, the actions of the Imperial Party went splendidly without a hitch.
Successfully drawing in the Celestial Society, they turned the tides in their favor and cornered the Baehwa.
They thwarted the hidden backer of the Baehwa, Kardamos’s descent, and if they unleash the final flash during the next round, it should be even easier to stop it.
The failure occurred solely due to the sudden intrusion of the Demon Spirit, which had nothing to do with the mistakes from the Imperial Party.
Upon realizing this, Eunsol cautioned, “If we avoid messing with the Demon Spirit, we might be able to resolve things in the next round.”
To that, Miro tilted her head. “Are you suggesting not to awaken Kain?”
“It feels like every time we try to wake him up, something goes wrong. In the first attempt, because you all came to the Empire’s capital, Ijasung went berserk, and in the second attempt, you all stirred the Demon Spirit awake….”
“Whoa! Is that all our fault? S-Sorry—”
“No! I’m not blaming anyone. It’s just, from the circumstances we’ve seen, it seems unnecessary to wake Kain.”
Essentially, the suggestion was to leave me alone, and while it felt somewhat off, I understood the logic.
At least, according to what we’ve gathered so far.
There’s no need to wake me up, and it’s more like waking me leads to more accidents happening.
Elena furrowed her brows. “Basically, the seal is meant to be broken, so completely giving up on unsealing is a bit odd, no?”
Ahri seemed to echo a similar sentiment. “We haven’t uncovered all the secrets of Room 205 yet. There’s definitely a reason to wake Kain.”
Listening to both of them led Eunsol to revise her opinion.
“Alright then, let’s proceed the ‘Unsealing Party’ a bit more cautiously.”
Afterwards, we elaborated on how to proceed with the third attempt using my advice and wound up the meeting.
*
– Kim Ahri
“Yawn!”
So sleepy.
“Don’t yawn. This is an important moment!”
“Alright, alright.”
— Whee!
So cold.
“Why is this not working?!”
So noisy.
Why the heck am I out here on the second floor snowfield at this late hour, watching Miro perform her goofy show?
The incident began simply.
After wrapping up the meeting on what to do the next day, we finished dinner, and everyone started doing their own thing.
Then suddenly, Miro moved me to the second floor snowfield.
And…
“I’m gonna master this new technique! Absolutely!”
She declared this while glaring intensely at the pocket watch.
“… New technique?”
Miro’s explanation was simple.
She vaguely recalled the way Midnight Miro fought, citing the active use of the time-dilation device.
“When summoning others or calling forth my past self, the outcomes differ entirely.”
When summoning her past self, a new body is formed, resulting in the overlap of present and past selves.
Plus, if she rapidly repeated the storing and summoning process using the time-dilation device, it could act like an invincible technique or movement.
“Focus!”
“…”
The needle of the pocket watch didn’t budge even a millimeter.
“… Miro, it seems you’d need quite a lot of training to utilize that method.”
“Which is why I’m doing it now.”
“Why me…?”
“Shut up!”
“…”
“Grr!”
The silver-haired girl stared intensely at the pocket watch.
And then…
“D-Did it work! Did you see that?”
“…”
“The entire world went dark and then brightened up. Just now, that was my second moment in time—”
“Uh, no.”
“Huh?”
“It wasn’t the time-dilation device. You just closed your eyes and opened them again while sweating from your forehead.”
“…”
Suddenly, I thought: what kind of training did the Administration Bureau put this girl through to create such a merciless superhuman?
That training method itself might be the true mystery of the universe, huh?
No way to know.
“Tonight, I’m gonna figure it out for sure!”
I really just wanted to sleep now.
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